Fine Arts puts focus on creative therapies

Danielle Klein, a registered art therapist, helps Hope Noel, 9, make a duct tape purse during a session July 8 at the Fine Art Association in Willoughby.

The last bell on the last day of school before summer break brings exciting thoughts of free weekdays and sunny pool time to the majority of children’s minds.

For 9-year-old Hope Noel of Willoughby summer means having to transition out of a routine — something she finds difficult as one of many symptoms of a rare chromosome defect known as DiGeorge syndrome.

A heart condition that meant Hope needed a heart repair two weeks after she was born was also part of the syndrome.

But she and her family have found some relief from its less concrete complications.

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“We would regularly see her frustration hit the roof once a day,” Hope’s mother Becky Noel said. Challenges a typical child could be conditioned to deal with, Hope struggles with, she said.

Becky noticed that Hope was not responding to traditional psychological therapy when she was in kindergarten so they sought out other types of solutions.

“I don’t want my daughter on drugs if we don’t have to,” Becky said. “I’d rather find something like this.”

So to ease Hope out of the school months into summer, Becky introduced Hope to Danielle Klein of Concord Township. Klein is a registered art therapist who works at Fine Arts Association in Willoughby.

Hope learned from Klein to keep a “feelings book” to help her through frustrating moments.

“When I’m upset or mad I just rip a bunch of paper up or scribble in the book so then I can just go crazy and put it in there,” Hope said. “When we’re done you can put it on and show Miss Danielle.”

Becky said ripping up paper and creating something beautiful out of it together was a kind of therapy for both of them.

“Art does allow you to break down the barriers and the walls and allow you to relax,” Klein said. “It is a distraction and it lets your feelings flow a little bit more freely than it would in a regular conversation.”

She said there is a significant difference in how people communicate before and after those walls come down.

“I’ll talk to people prior to giving them the art materials and I get very simplified answers,” she said. “Then once I get them going and they’re feeling relaxed and involved in the process, the conversations start happening and the issues or the feelings that we’re working on start getting accomplished.”

Ann Marie Raddell is a music therapist who has similar experiences in the classes she teaches at Fine Arts Association and in her work at Lake Health medical centers.

“Music can also distract people from their pain,” Raddell said. “It can be used instead of more pain medications. Women in labor use music therapy now instead of having to use as many meds.”

She has noticed benefits of music therapy in her own 3-year-old daughter Emily after a bone marrow transplant put her behind others in her age group.

Now Emily attends Raddell’s and her colleagues’ classes to maintain the work that was done.
Raddell said typical children can benefit as well.

In her music making class Tuesday morning she was teaching pre-school children how to count in a fun, musical way that the children most likely didn’t even view as learning.

Songs about animals including a crowd favorite with the lyrics, “There’s a (insert farm animal here) on your head” had the children participating and laughing.

Raddell’s best friend Julia Kleppel brings her 3-year-old son Colin to music classes and has noticed a difference.

“He was a really shy kid and I think it’s helped a lot to get over some social fears,” Kleppel said. “He also has some speech challenges and it’s helped his speech development through singing and everything.”

“We can use music in a way that the focus is on the music but we’re working on other things,” Raddell said. “Instead of focusing on the problems, we’re focusing on the positives and using music to bring out those good qualities.”

About the Author

Devon covers Painesville City and schools, in-depth topics and splits his time on the copy desk. He's traveled around the world, worked in TV and loves coffee, music, theater and the OU Bobcats. Reach the author at DTurchan@News-Herald.com
or follow Devon on Twitter: @DevonTurchan.